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Dessert

Mock Mince Pie

A sweet pie made with molasses, sugar, vinegar, water, crackers, egg, raisins, and spices.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Mock Mince Pie

Why it works: Cinnamon and clove match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,189 recipes. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓

Mock Mince Pie

six pies

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Make the filling

  1. In a large bowl, combine molasses, sugar, vinegar, and water.

  2. Add crushed crackers, egg, raisins, cinnamon, cloves, and allspice.

  3. Mix well until all ingredients are combined.

Bake

  1. Pour the mixture into pie crusts to make six pies.

  2. Bake in a preheated oven at 350°F (175°C) until set.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Cinnamon + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,189 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  2. Clove + allspicetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,874 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  3. Cinnamon + allspicetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,536 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Raisin + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,390 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

  5. Raisin + clovetop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,070 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Molasses
Adds dark sweetness and a deep, rich flavor to the filling.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and helps the filling set into a sliceable texture.
Egg
Binds the filling and helps it set as it bakes.
Crushed crackers
Thickens the filling and gives it body in place of flour.
Raisins
Add chewy texture and concentrated fruity sweetness.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that sharpens the flavor and balances the molasses sweetness.

Swap the raisin

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (molasses, sugar, vinegar, egg, cinnamon, clove, allspice):

  1. Raisinthe original
  2. Vanillafits about as well
  3. Figfits about as well
  4. Orangefits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against molasses, sugar, vinegar, egg, cinnamon, clove, allspice. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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